Saturday, November 05, 2005



Day 2

The visit to Vietnam National University was a good exposure for me as I felt that this was a good opportunity to learn about the educational system in Vietnam as well as get to know new friends.


Talking about the educational system, the poverty of Vietnam had made it hard for many people to get the education that they want. Even if someone has top results but his/her family can’t support his/her education anymore, they would still have to drop education.The older and most senior sibling often have to sacrifice to let the younger one get the education as not many families can afford education for every child in their family.


It suddenly made me realise just how fortunate I was to be in Singapore where we could take loans if we were poor and couldn’t afford the education as our government values the importance of a good education. However, perhaps many of us have taken the cost of our education for granted as we keep thinking that this kind of things will never happen to us and that our parent or guardian will always have the money to pay for our education.
But is that really a fact?


I guess not


Everyone still need to work to support their family and financial burden which usually includes education but I guess Singaporean rely too much on their parents and have taken too many things for granted and it is high time we do some reflection on ourselves and learn to treasure what we have instead of whining and whining over almost everything.


While some teenagers here don’t wish to purse their education anymore at a tender age, just imagine how precious a place in Singapore education system might means to those poor Vietnamese?


A better Education? A greater Future? A Better Career Opportunity?
The possibilities are unlimited.


The visit to the historical museum got me more aware of how the Vietnamese Culture has evolved. But comparing it to Singapore museum, I felt Singapore has made their trail more interesting and unique. But what is common is the fact that history is a lesson that everyone can learn from and it is no exception for me.


The visit to Consulate Office made me more aware of how Singapore are safeguarded in Vietnam and if Singaporean have any difficulty or trouble in Vietnam, they will try their best to help us.


Had our first real taste of Vietnamese cooking , rather salty but overall it was nice at a restaurant. All restaurant served Tea in Vietnam which is great cause i love tea =)
Went back to our hotel.


Hui Ying and Asy were meeting their VNU friends, so i just tagged along and they took us around Ho Chi Ming City. Introducing to us their traditional food ( Pho - white colour noddle)
It was delicious. i had beef pho and papaya juice. Really enjoyed the dinner.
After dinner, we headed off to various places.


To take a picture with Ho Chi Min Statue , Post Office(where i sent my sister a post card) , Notre Dame Church and a few other places where we shopped. Then we went to try their HOT POT... which was similar to singapore steamboat except there was no place for you to fry your meat...just throw everything into the soup and voila... tasty yummy Hot pot.


Cab around a lot but CABS are CHEAP in vietnam
(First 2 Km = 12000 dong or $1.3 and 5000 dong or $0.54 per km after)
After the final cab back to our hotel, bid farewell to our friends and they agreed to come again on thursday to take us out again


Reaching my room , started to do my journal and fell asleept 20 minutes into doing it
The fatigue from Day 1 and all the travelling today(Day 2) must have been the cause of it!!!
But Aye...rest is for me to walk a longer road(xu xi shi wei le zou keng yuan de lu)
And i didn't have to drink anything that night =x